YEREVAN. – The second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, has contact with about 70 people during the week. Kocharyan said this at Friday’s trial in court, answering Judge Anna Danibekyan's question about the conditions in his penitentiary and whether there are other people in his prison cell.

"The [prison] employees work one day and are off for three days," said Robert Kocharyan. "Nobody knows what they are doing outside of the work day. Ninety percent [of them] are young; this means that at least 50 percent of them will be asymptomatic, even if they become infected [with COVID-19]. On my own wish, I am alone in the cell now. But there are contacts with the staff; it is impossible otherwise. It is impossible to keep a distance while moving about in the [prison] building.”

Robert Kocharyan also noted that the food is brought to him packaged, but no one can say who works there, who prepares it, and who delivers that food. "The staff tries to follow the [health safety] requirements; they wear masks and gloves," he added. "But there are no conditions, there is no ventilation. People come from outside and bring food three times a day. It is even pointless to discuss how the necessary requirements can be met. "

Hayk Alumyan, one of Kocharyan's attorneys, added that they also petitioned to the Human Rights Defender with this issue.

"The President is now at Izmirlian Medical Center," he added. "But, according to the rules, there must be an officer with him in the hospital room. They are constantly being substituted, and it turns out that the patient is forced to have contact with a large number of people all the time.”